An abstract composition by Ludwig Hirschfeld-Mack completed in 1943 (Lot 504 ), is an example of the artist’s enthusiasm for creating abstract monotypes which occupied much of his art-making years during the 50s and 60s. A method which he adopted from fellow contemporary artist Paul Klee whilst stationed as both student and teacher at Weimar Bauhaus.
An early student of the Weimar Bauhaus and studying under as well as teaching alongside Paul Klee, Hirschfeld-Mack represents an important link between Australia and the teachings and practices of the Bauhaus. An émigré artist who was deported from England to Australia in 1940 as an “enemy alien” on the prison ship HMT Dunera, Hirschfeld-Mack’s first two years in Australia was spent in internment camps, first in Hay, Orange then Tatura. Through the intervention of a progressive Headmaster of Geelong Grammer, Hirschfeld-Mack was released in 1942 and began his appointment as an art educator, eventually becoming the head of the art department. His contribution to Australian art is defined by his commitment to education rather than his creative output. Artmaking came second to his education, and it wasn’t until his retirement years did begin producing art. Lack of presence among the artistic community is the very reason why his body of work was by and large forgotten. Poignantly his importance resurfaced following his death in 1965, his widow bequeathed his artworks to institutional collections in Australia and America.
Evidently, the nine works by Hirschfeld-Mack in this month’s sale is a rare moment for an auction house to offer a body of work spanning the years between 1940s through to the early 1960s. Landscape depictions of Wilson’s Promontory and rural Victorian landscape (Lot 501 ), (Lot 502 ) & (Lot 507 ) demonstrates his interest in engaging with his new homeland through figurative representation whilst continuing to produce in his later years formal and whimsical abstractions that demonstrate a life-long commitment to the technical and theoretical proponents of line, form and colour (Lot 509 ) & (Lot 505 ). Among the collection is also a painting of his daughter, Marga, painted in 1921 (Lot 508 ). Hirschfeld-Mack was an accomplished printmaker, spending his formative years at the Bauhaus institution as an apprenticeship lithographer in the Print Workshop. An untitled abstract composition from 1943 (Lot 504 ), is an example of his enthusiasm for monotypes which occupied much of his later years in the 50s and 60s. The process is called durchdrückzeichnung (press-through drawing) and is believed to be an adaptation of Paul Klee’s technique that he prolifically used during the Weimar Bauhaus period between 1919 and 1925. Fortunately, we’re able to view first-hand both the technical and stylistic similarities of both methods. A postcard for the Bauhaus Lantern Party, 1922 Laternenfest Bauhaus 1922, (Lot 510 ) is a lithograph after the original durchdrückzeichnung produced by Klee. The work demonstrates the unique ‘fuzzy’ aesthetic produced through the technique with watercolour later added. No doubt Hirschfeld-Mack developed his own variation of durchdrückzeichnung, however the same aesthetic quality is apparent in his monotypes.
Hirschfeld-Mack was instrumental in the rise of a new Australian art. Although not directly influenced by Hirschfeld-Mack, it is fitting that this sale features works by other modern Australian painters that have contributed to a shift in Australia’s visual language post World War II: The Seated Boy by Justin O’Brien (Lot 511 ), The Pool IV, Bali by Donald Friend(Lot 528 ); Robert Dickerson’s The Card Players, 2011 (Lot 517 ) ; Ray Crooke’s Island Interior, Levuka (Lot 518 )and Sidney Nolan’s Ned Kelly Series (Lots 547) and (Lot 548 ).
In contrast to this modern shift, two impressive works by Jan Hendrik Scheltema Hauling Logs, Victoria (Lot 514 ) and James Alfred Turner’s Peace Breeds on the Shade of Every Hill, 1906 (Lot 515 ) serve as reminders of a long and established art tradition that was fervently traditional and parochial.
